Countries and Capitals of the UK: Free KS1 Geography Worksheet

What is on the worksheet

A clear outline map of the United Kingdom, with the borders between England, Scotland and Wales drawn in and Northern Ireland to the west across the sea. Each capital city is shown with a dot and its name, so the job for children is to work out which country is which. There is a numbered marker on each country, a word bank of the four countries and four capitals, and a line for each answer.

Only Northern Ireland is drawn on the island of Ireland. The rest of that island is a different country, Ireland, which is not part of the UK, so it is left off to keep the map simple.

How to use it at home or in the classroom

Print the worksheet, or open it on a tablet and print from there. Start by finding where you live on the map, or the country you know best. Then go through the numbers together. Help your child name each country, find the city with a dot inside it, and write both on the line using the word bank.

A common mix-up at this age is thinking England and the UK are the same thing. Point out that England is one of four countries that together make the UK. For younger children, read the word bank aloud and let them match the words. In class it works well as a starter for a topic on the UK, or as a quick recap before moving on to maps, oceans and the wider world.

What your child will learn

By the end of the activity, your child should be able to name the four countries of the United Kingdom and match each one to its capital city: London is the capital of England, Edinburgh of Scotland, Cardiff of Wales and Belfast of Northern Ireland.

They will also begin to understand that the UK is one country made up of four parts, and that it is almost completely surrounded by sea. Its only land border is between Northern Ireland and Ireland. This early locational knowledge leads on to work on the seas around the UK, and then the continents and oceans.

A note for teachers

This worksheet supports the Key Stage 1 geography programme of study for locational knowledge, specifically naming and locating the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom and its surrounding seas. It works as a quick assessment of recall and pairs well with a class map, a globe, or an atlas.

A note on accuracy worth sharing with pupils: the UK's surrounding seas include the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the English Channel and the Celtic Sea, with the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The map shows only Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland, because only that part is in the UK; it is worth telling pupils that the rest of the island is the separate country of Ireland. There is no log-in and no watermark. You are welcome to print copies for your class and to link to this page from your school website or newsletter.

Frequently asked questions